Roaring Dragon Plains, Neutral Zone
"Primordial Descent!"
With a swing of the person's hand, an asteroid as large as a continent came crashing down onto the nation's 10 million strong army.
While the pressure exerted from the massive falling object made the weaker soldiers and magicians explode into blood mist. The stronger paladins and magic knights died by having their bones crushed while they were slowly forced into the ground.
Soon, even the S-rankers and SS-rankers followed their comrades to the afterlife.
Looking at the bleak scene, the nation's SSS ranked Hero was aghast by the monster he had provoked.
"Tch, to think that I had opened the jaws of a lion myself…This Lee Jian cannot accept this!" With a shout, the Hero casted an enhancement spell on himself and leaped into the sky.
If he couldn't stop the asteroid in time, everyone behind him would die. This final battle that decided the fate of his nation would be lost too.
Following that, Lee Jian gathered all the remaining mana in his veins and poured it into the tip of his holy sword.
"Goddess' Wrath!"
Without hesitation, the Hero shot out a brilliant holy sword wave at the asteroid.
Countless soldiers who were on their last breath even smiled when they saw how hard their Hero was working.
Alas, their moment of happiness was cut short when the enemy's asteroid attack cracked and broke into a fiery rain of rocks, killing everyone with its large scale area of effect.
It was only after a huge chunk of the asteroid fell and struck Lee Jian in the chest did the Hero's holy sword wave reach a distant rock piece.
Screams of the nation's soldiers soon filled the battlefield as they all died a dog's death under the fiery rainstorm.
'If only the other SSS-rankers were deployed to this battle, maybe we could've…survived…'
With this final thought, Lee Jian closed his eyes and died right then and there.
***
Moments before the Leon Empire sent out their army to fight against the Boln Kingdom, a middle aged man with oil slicked hair and a neatly trimmed beard barged into the throne room brazenly.
Emperor Leon IV who was discussing military tactics with his advisors already knew who it was.
"Sir Andreas Matthias, shouldn't you be preparing for the final battle with the dark horse of this continent? Why are you still dilly dallying here in my throne room?"
"I'm here to go against your orders, what else is there to it? I've told you time and time again, do not provoke the dragons. You and the rest of those shitty nobles only see the tail, yet you think you are already greater, more powerful…" [Andreas]
"But we are powerful. We are the Leon Empire of the Rising Sun Continent. We control ⅗ of the continent with our powerful armies. Not only that, we have you, an X-Ranker of the support category. You can regenerate limbs and revive the dead with a mere drop of your mana!" [Emperor Leon IV]
"That is why I'm speaking against sending out Prince Lee Jian to the final battle. He will only become cattle that will be slaughtered by the Boln Kingdom!" [Andreas]
The heated argument between the Emperor and Matthias, who was the Empire's greatest support ranker, was so bizarre. The power dynamic was almost nonexistent between the two figures.
Even the Emperor's military generals and advisors didn't dare to cut in and stop the two.
"Sir Matthias, mind your words! I will respect you as an X-Ranker despite only having healing capabilities, so you should respect my son as he is brave enough to enter the battlefield to fight for the Empire's glory!" [Emperor Leon IV]
"We have been at war with the Boln Kingdom for a century now. If we lose this final battle, it will just be an afterthought in the coming years. But if the prince dies during the battle, the Leon Royal Bloodline will end here." Andreas, who wanted to stop the senseless sacrifice of his comrades, started to bullshit as hard as possible.
He had no respect for the empire that sacrificed his comrades over the century.
The nobles of the empire kicked their feet in peace and joy while a war raged on with a small nation called the Boln Kingdom.
Originally, it was the Boln Kingdom that waged war with their surrounding neighbours first.
Then after conquering them and the Boln Kingdom stabilized with their increased territory, they waged another century long war with the Leon Empire.
"I have been a soldier for the Empire since a century ago, back when the Boln Kingdom was just a capital city with 4 stone walls. Now they command more than 40 X-Rankers who can decimate anyone with ease. And who allowed that rapid progress to happen? You guessed it, the Leon Empire."
"I admit that my father was rather passive during the start of the century long war, but now that I'm in power, I have better judgement with what we should do to win this war."
"No you don't. Your father was not passive either, he was a coward. Hiding behind the hundred thousand strong army to solve his problems."
The more Andreas talked, the more he furrowed his brows.
He had seen the long years of suffering of the common folk and the army.
He had also seen the countless dazzling banquets the Empire held for their nobles for each small victory.
'Like father like son, their head is so high up in the clouds that they don't know they have stepped onto a dragon's tail.'
With one last sigh, Andreas gave Emperor Leon IV a pitiful look. He then turned around and walked towards the exit.
As for the emperor, he didn't mind the disrespectful tone of Andreas. He merely felt pity for the X-Ranker as the man had just seen way too much.
The PTSD of an X-Ranker was hard to relate to after all.